Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To direct that a letter, word, or other matter marked for omission or correction is to be retained. Used in the imperative.
  • intransitive verb To nullify (a correction or deletion) in printed matter.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Let it (that is, the original) stand: a proof-reader's order to cancel an alteration previously made by him.
  • To mark with the word “stet”; direct or cause to remain, after deletion, as printed; forbear to delete.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb (Print.) To cause or direct to remain after having been marked for omission; to mark with the word stet, or with a series of dots below or beside the matter.
  • (Print.) Let it stand; -- a word used by proof readers to signify that something once erased, or marked for omission, is to remain.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A symbol used by proofreaders and typesetters to indicate that a word or phrase that was crossed out should still remain. This is usually marked by writing and circling the word stet above or beside the unwanted edit and underscoring the selection with dashes or dots. Alternatively, a circled checkmark may be used in the margin.
  • verb The act of marking previously edited material “stet” to indicate that something previously marked for change should remain as is.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb printing: cancel, as of a correction or deletion
  • verb printing: direct that a matter marked for omission or correction is to be retained (used in the imperative)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, third person sing. present subjunctive of stāre, to stand; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin stet ("let it stand").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word stet.

Examples

  • Those friends love to hear valuable editing suggestions - even when the suggestions are in the form of implemented edits that the author can undo or mark "stet" - especially because they recognize that an author may have a hard time seeing flaws in his work.

    Libertarian Blog Place 2008

  • Those friends love to hear valuable editing suggestions - even when the suggestions are in the form of implemented edits that the author can undo or mark "stet" - especially because they recognize that an author may have a hard time seeing flaws in his work.

    The Volokh Conspiracy 2008

  • She can write "stet" as well as I can ( "stet" is a proofreaders mark, Latin for "let it stand," and when one wishes to disregard a copyeditor's mark, one writes "stet" in the margin of the page.

    One of those WoW things. sovay 2009

  • I am just wondering if the stet is the same in Chicago about there auto insurance where they required a liability coverage for the drivers auto insurance.

    Compare 12 auto Insurance Rate Quotes in georgia 2009

  • Where I couldn't, I allowed myself a rant and then made sure to change it to a simple "stet" or "OK" on my next pass through.

    Day in the Life of an Idiot lyda222 2009

  • Usually, the writer is supposed to check those corrections and accept them or "stet" them in far fewer days than feels possible.

    From Twitter 05-10-2010 e_moon60 2010

  • You can "stet" any change they make (stet tells whoever is entering the corrections to ignore that change), or make changes on top of the copyeditor's changes.

    January 16th, 2007 jilltanith 2007

  • If an author and I disagree on something, and if I've put all my arguments and he still prefers to "stet", I can remind myself that it's his book, and his name will end up on the cover.

    Some Editors Are More Anonymous Than Others Editorial Anonymous 2009

  • For those of you not writers, to "stet" a mark is to say "Let it stand" as it was.

    Almost there... e_moon60 2009

  • Commas, copyedited manuscripts, and the lesser god "stet"

    ianrandalstrock's Journal ianrandalstrock 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.